THE TELEGRAPH: The head of new taskforce set up to deal with sex abuse by Roman Catholic priests in the Pope's former archdiocese in Germany said the group had been overwhelmed by a "tsunami" of claims.
New reports have emerged almost daily of sex abuse cases involving Catholic clergy in several European countries. The spreading controversy threatens to overshadow a letter the Pope is expected to release on Saturday about the scandals that wracked Ireland.
Fresh claims emerged that Benedict XVI failed to do enough to safeguard children from paedophile priests when, as Joseph Ratzinger, he was the archbishop of Munich from 1977 to 1982.
"It's like a tsunami," said Elke Huemmeler, the head of the diocese's newly established Task Force on Sexual Abuse Prevention, the first of its kind in the German Catholic Church.
The body, which started work yesterday, will review about 120 cases of alleged sexual abuse – among the 300 reported across Germany since January.
Around 100 of the claims involve a boarding school run by Benedictine monks at Ettal, in the foothills of the Alps in southern Bavaria.
"It is all really terrible, but we are going to listen to everything," said Mrs Huemmeler. >>> Nick Squires in Rome | Friday, March 19, 2010
